The Devhouse Agency

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there?

I’m the director of strategic partnerships for a marketing company that specializes in multi-family marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Devhouse Agency?

We needed a new partner to handle our virtual rendering needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our first step was to establish the goals of the project. The Devhouse Agency is now helping us complete our VR development project.

What is the team composition?

I’m working with Jim (Founder & CEO) and one other person from their team.

How did you come to work with The Devhouse Agency?

My friend referred Jim to me because he had worked with him in the past. We reached out to Jim, and we came to an agreement that worked for both of us.

How much have you invested with them? 

We’ve spent $15,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing relationship began in October 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

What makes The Devhouse Agency a valuable partner is their ability to turn out great products within a set time period. They also have good pricing, and they’re a great partner to work with. On top of that, they meet all the goals we set. Above all, they give great feedback and our external clients are happy with their work.

How did The Devhouse Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through email, and we relay to them the needs of our external clients. After that, they give us their estimated timelines. With regards to deadlines, they always tend to meet them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication skills are excellent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think they can do anything different because they always strive to improve. As a result, the quality of their work just gets better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clearly communicate your needs and timelines. Above all, give them everything they need regarding the details of your project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

AMP Creative is designs, develops and delivers cutting-edge learning experiences that enable workforces to reach their fullest potential. I'm an Experiential Producer and I focus on leveraging new technology for learning and training experiences.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Devhouse Agency, and what were your goals?

We partnered with another learning company to create the LMS course content for to train retail employees about an upcoming product. In addition to the traditional text and videos, our end clients wanted to integrate AR into their LMS. We hired The Devhouse to create the AR experience.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

A current AMP employee used to work at Devhouse and recommended we hire them.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The project's scope constantly evolved as the end-client decided their desired final outcome. Originally, we planned on deploying the experience across iPads; however, the client later decided they wanted the experience to be cross-device compatible. In order to have this compatibility, we needed a web-based 3D language. Ultimately, The Devhouse decided to build the AR learning experiences in three.js. 3D models were optimized in Maya.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked directly with two people from Devhouse, but I know others on the team were involved too. I held stand-ups with a project manager and senior developer. I also know members of their art team were involved with model optimization.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The project has yet to be deployed (this will happen in fall 2021), but we've already heard positive feedback with both our alpha and beta builds.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The Devhouse exceeded expectations. They were able to be flexible and turned tough challenges into exciting problem-solve opportunities. They were on top of timelines and were extremely quick to make edits.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I appreciate how the team is genuinely intrigued by immersive technologies. Every roadblock felt like a fun problem-solve opportunity, rather than a chore. Additionally, their turnaround time is incredible. It felt as if I would make a note and within the next few hours a new build was pushed.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We took a while to decide our development language. Once that was decided, the project speed moved quickly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder and owner of StrongStart, LLC in Dallas, TX. Had an office attached with Mr. Welch during our game development contract.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Devhouse Agency, and what were your goals?

To build out a small proof of concept game on Firebase and Unity for 2D top down gameplay. Our goals were to get a working start point to progress our metaverse efforts with some of our investment...that unfortunately did not happen thanks to Mr. Welch's actions.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

They did provide a Unity link with a firebase app hosted. It was a Pokemon clone from Unity's github with some basic Firebase functions. During the 4 months of sprints, they managed to make a "Town Builder" that was using copyright assets and had no real value in the roadmap.

The worst part became the constant worry that he was working on stealing my ideas for metaverses and what i was hiring him for, and he definitely did.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

They made a basic unity 2D top down. It was unsatisfactory in terms of its build over 4 months.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

3 people total - 2 devs and a project manager. I can code what they did combined in 4 months in 2 weeks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Very upset because he used the sublease agreement to then steal all of my assets. It has been an ongoing ordeal that we still continue to face with Mr. Welch.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Shannon was cool, and they were communicative, but it was clear from the start, this was another entrepreneur being taken advantage of by an agency.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The studio. It was somethiing I truly believed in. Unfortunately, this agency is managed by someone that chooses malicious actions.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Provide wireframes, user flows, any UX versus planning sprints during the project. It became my responsibility to share when the expectation was that I was paying their studio to help inform the game design direction.